


Albatross

by michmak



Series: The Wizard of Odd, and other stories [4]
Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-24
Updated: 2012-07-24
Packaged: 2017-11-10 14:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/467330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michmak/pseuds/michmak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mal is thinking maybe the Ancient Mariner didn't have it so bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Albatross

_Prompt: 004 – Emotions (list 2)  
Word Count: 791  
Progress: 4/100_

Doc hated it when he took River with him on jobs, which was one 'a the reasons Mal liked to take her. The younger man, all het up about his mei-mei's safety, tickled his funny-bone something fierce. Despite all the evidence indicating otherwise, Simon still seemed to think River was gonna get shot on one 'a their little excursions or come back hurt, somehow. He seemed to forget the girl was a xiong-can sha-shou, something which had been more useful than not on more occasions than he liked to admit.

'Course, the fact that she could out-fight and out-shoot anyone else he'd ever seen before was one 'a the other reasons he took the girl on jobs now. She was handy to have around when things got tetchy. For one thing, she always knew when the job was gonna go tits up and people were gonna start trying to kill 'em and that was useful. Advance warning was always kinda nice. For another thing, when she went into full-on fight-mode there weren't nothing that could beat her. She made kicking ass a thing of grace and beauty and Mal just liked to watch her move.

Mainly, though, he took her 'cause he didn't really trust anyone else but him to keep her safe. He realized this was a bit of a contradiction in thinking – if anything, she kept him and Zoe and Jayne safe – but he couldn't help it. When he looked at her he saw a fragile girl in need a someone to shelter and protect her.

It was the way his brain was hard-wired and she didn't do much to try to convince him of anything different. When she fought she fought hard, but when she was finished she was well and truly finished. She'd turn to him and just look at him like she was in some kinda trance, men piled around her where they'd fallen. He'd go to her and wrap an arm around her and gently lead her away, almost as if he was trying to shield her from what she'd done. It was just the way things were.

Jayne would always snort something along the lines 'a _'What are ya tryin' to protect her from? She's the one done this, so it ain't like she ain't already seen it.'_

Zoë would just look at him all assessing-like and gather their pay before climbing up on the mule. _'Good thing she was with us,'_ she'd sometimes say, _'or that would have gone down a whole lot different, Sir.'_

When they'd get back to Serenity, Doc'd always make a big fuss over the girl but she'd just smile at him and say she was fine. Then Doc'd say, _'Anyone need any stitches? Bullets removed? Bones set? Anything?'_ , and they'd all shake their heads no. Ain't no one got hurt when River was with them. Today's job weren't no different.

Later that night, they're sitting around the table after dinner filling Kaylee and Simon in on what had happened during the course 'a retrieving their pay. _'Your feng le sister saved our hides again,'_ Jayne is laughing. _'She's gonna make havin' a Doc on board this boat redundant. She's a gorram good-luck charm, is what she is!'_

And while Kaylee offers to teach Simon everything she knows 'bout engineering in case the doctoring ever dwindles down to nothing, River looks up at him and smiles. _'Little Albatross,'_ she whispers under her breath, pointing to herself as if she is sharing a secret with him.

_'I know it,'_ he whispers back.

Still later, while everyone else is sleeping, he meets her in the kitchen. The coffee is bitter and hot as he drinks, just the way he likes it.

They sit together and don't say anything, and he forgets she's still just a girl and he's the man who runs this boat; the man old enough to be her father. He drinks his coffee slowly and enjoys the stillness and the sound of her breathing. Eventually, though, he's finished. She gets up and he puts his mug in the sink and they both head to their bunks in opposite directions of the ship, on the off chance a peaceful sleep might be waiting for them.

Just before she leaves, though, she turns to him and whispers, _'He prayeth best, who loveth best / All things both great and small; / For the dear God who loveth us/ He made and loveth all.'_

He thinks on what she said as he slowly makes his way to his room and he realizes she ain't so wrong. She's given him something to believe in again.

For that, he loves her.

 

** TRANSLATIONS **

xiong-can sha-shou – ass-kicking killer  
feng le – crazy

**Author's Note:**

> River's quote at the end taken from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge


End file.
